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Stehl was arrested Aug. 9 in a law enforcement raid after local health care professionals facing federal sentences in a separate controlled substance distribution case offered evidence to DEA officers in hopes of possible reduced punishment. He was indicted at the end of August.

The grand jury indictment states the first count is related to distribution of two drugs: Xanax and dextroamphetamine, a stimulant that can be used to treat ADHD. Court documents allege Stehl prescribed the drugs to a patient named M.R. between April 2011 and July 2018.

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Stehl spent three days in custody in August after initially declining to give up his medical license, prosecutors said. But Stehl eventually agreed to surrender his license, certification to prescribe controlled substances, and his passport in exchange for house arrest with electronic monitoring.

Skier said the release terms were not an admission of guilt from his client.

Court documents indicate the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners received a tip in May that Stehl was overprescribing controlled medication. A probable cause affidavit filed by the DEA stated the tip came from a concerned family member of one of Stehl's patients.

Court affidavits also state area pharmacists told investigators they would turn away some Stehl patients because of the "high quantities of drugs" the doctor would prescribe.

Prescription data obtained by DEA investigators ranked Stehl in the top 1 percent of Alabama physicians who prescribe controlled substances in 2018. In 2017, Stehl ranked 173 out of 12,865 providers.

The affidavit also cited a 2012 professional evaluation ordered by the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners which found Stehl was at high risk of attracting "complicated and potentially drug-seeking" clientele due to "atrocious" risk management practices.

ABME ordered the professional fitness evaluation, conducted by a Kansas testing facility, after two women reported Stehl for "inappropriate sexual advances." One woman alleged Stehl propositioned her while she was a patient, leading to a three-month relationship.

The ABME issued a nondisciplinary Letter of Concern to Stehl in 2012.

Dr. Gilberto Sanchez, a former Montgomery physician at the center of a separate, large-scale federal pill mill investigation, told investigators he once rented Stehl office space. Johnnie Sanders, a Montgomery counselor who is awaiting trial for health care fraud and distribution offenses in the Sanchez case, told investigators Stehl prescribed her a cocktail of prescription medications without asking for medical history or conducting physical examinations.

Court documents indicate Sanchez and Sanders provided investigators with information on Stehl for a possibly lighter sentence, though a federal judge rejected a sentencing agreement Sanchez and prosecutors had hashed out. Sanchez was ultimately sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison.